This invention relates generally to high pressure gas containers and more particularly to hermetically sealed high pressure gas containers having extended shelf life and capable of being inexpensively constructed and charged.
High pressure gas containers find many uses in the guided projectile and guided missile arts as well as various other arts. The pressurized gas represents a compact source of energy which may be used to perform various functions, e.g., uncaging gyros, cooling detector elements of infrared seekers, deflecting control surfaces, etc. Prior art high pressure gas containers relied principally on metal to metal seals to confine the gas within the container. Some of these prior art devices depended upon a threaded union which necessitates an extremely good surface finish to obtain a seal. Other devices utilized a soft metal insert which was deformed during closure in an attempt to obtain an effective seal. In both types of devices, and particularly that using the threaded union, the machining of parts must be done to close tolerances. These metal to metal seals were frequently imperfect and it was found that the confined gas had slowly leaked out of the container which resulted in a short shelf life. Since guided projectiles and guided missiles are often stored for considerable periods of time prior to use, the potential short shelf life is disadvantageous.
Another disadvantage of the prior art designs was that the entire gas container had to be enclosed in a pressure vessel in order to be filled. The final sealing then had to be done remotely from outside the pressure vessel. This necessitated working through access glands and using special adapters to insure proper assembly and to obtain the precise torques required for correct assembly. When working with pressures on the order of 7000 psi, the friction inherent in the access glands made the obtaining of proper torques very difficult. The pressure chamber was necessary to keep the gas in the bottle since the prior art devices had no temporary means of sealing which would enable a hermetic seal to be made with the gas container in atmospheric conditions.